Darien

History

Colonial period

The British built Fort King George in 1721, near what would become Darien. At the time it was the southernmost outpost of the British Empire in North America. The fort was abandoned in 1727 following attacks from the Spanish. Its remains constitute the oldest fort on the Georgia coast.

The town of Darien (originally known as "New Inverness") was founded in January 1736 by Scottish Highlanders recruited by James Oglethorpe to act as settler-soldiers protecting the frontiers of Georgia from the Spanish in Florida, the French in the Alabama basin, and the Indian allies of each colonial enterprise. On January 10, 1736, 177 emigrants, including women and children, arrived on the Prince of Wales to establish Darien, which was named after the Darien scheme, a former Scottish colony in Panama. Among the initial settlers was Lachlan McGillivray, who became a noted trader with the Creek people, and Lachlan McIntosh, a leader during the American Revolutionary War.

The Scots originated mainly from around Inverness and consisted of both Jacobite and Hanoverian supporting clans, the majority of whom spoke only Gaelic. When visited by Oglethorpe in February, the settlers had already constructed "a battery of four pieces of cannon, built a guardhouse, a storehouse, a chapel, and several huts for particular people." Darien was laid out in accordance with the now-famous Oglethorpe Plan.

They showed similar progress in the construction of military forts: by March the Scottish settlers had begun work on two forts, Fort St. Andrews on Cumberland Island, and Fort St. George on the St. Johns River, 60 mi (100 km) to the south of the territory claimed by the British government in the Georgia charter.

In 1736, the British abandoned Fort St. George by agreement with the Spanish officials in Florida. In 1736 Darien settlers began work on Fort Frederica on St. Simons Island, a few miles south of Darien, between it and Cumberland Island. Scots settlers whose travel was paid for by the Trustees of the Colony were organized into two companies, the Highland Independent Company of Foot, an infantry force, and the Highland Rangers, a mounted force. By 1737 the constant military activity of the Darien colony was taking its toll. An additional 44 Highland settlers arrived to expand the town.

Civil War and after

On June 11, 1863, Union troops stationed on St. Simons Island looted and destroyed most of the town, including the homes of black residents, mostly slaves. This was not part of Sherman's March to the Sea, which occurred more than a year later. Confusion has arisen because the St. Simons Island troops were under the command of another General Sherman, stationed in the South Carolina Sea Islands.

The destruction of the undefended city, which was of little strategic importance, was carried out by the 54th Massachusetts Volunteers under the command of a reluctant Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and the 2nd South Carolina Volunteers under the command of Colonel James Montgomery. Colonel Montgomery ordered that the town be looted and burned. This was part of the Union strategy to damage the Confederate states' ability to supply food and materiel towards their war effort. Montgomery's troops allegedly broke ranks and looted freely, while Shaw ordered his troops to take only what would be useful at camp (he later described the raid as a "Satanic action").

The First African Baptist Church (claimed to be the oldest African American church in the county) was destroyed along with the rest of the town. It was rebuilt. Later some meetings of the 20th-century Civil Rights Movement were held there.

After the U.S. Army destroyed Darien, gunboats were used to blockade the port. The troops plundered residents and plantations of McIntosh County for food, as armies lived off the land to a great extent. The only defenders left in the county were a group of men too old for military service. On the night of August 3, 1864, the county's white defenders had met at the Ebenezer Church, 9 mi (14 km) north of Darien. Union troops found out about the meeting from the local enslaved people. The troops surrounded the church, opened fire, and captured 23 men. These men were marched to a landing near Darien, put on ships, and taken to prisons in the North.

The destruction of Darien was most famously depicted in the 1989 film Glory.

Following the Civil War, Darien was rebuilt, with financial aid coming in small part from the family of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw. He had been killed during the war but had written to his family of his shame in participating in the destruction of this town.

Squares

Darien was established with five squares based on the Oglethorpe Plan that James Oglethorpe used in his design of Savannah, Georgia. Three of the five original squares in Darien still exist: Vernon Square and Columbus Square in the Vernon Square–Columbus Square Historic District, and Oglethorpe Square. One of the original squares, Jefferson Square, has been replaced by tennis courts and the other original square, Franklin Square, is now an empty lot.

Geography

Darien is located on the southern edge of McIntosh County at 31°22′16″N 81°25′51″W (31.371134, −81.430742). It is bordered to the south by the Altamaha River, 10 miles (16 km) upstream (west) from its mouth at the Atlantic Ocean. The city is sited on a low bluff overlooking the Darien River, a tidal channel that reaches the Atlantic at Doboy Sound north of the Altamaha.

U.S. Route 17 passes through the center of town, leading north 11 miles (18 km) to Eulonia and south 17 miles (27 km) to Brunswick. Interstate 95 passes through the west side of the city limits, with access from Exit 49 (State Route 250). I-95 leads north 62 miles (100 km) to Savannah and south 78 miles (126 km) to Jacksonville, Florida.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 24.0 square miles (62 km2), of which 21.2 square miles (55 km2) are land and 2.9 square miles (7.5 km2), or 11.94%, are water.

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, Darien had a population of 1,460. The median age was 51.3 years. 16.2% of residents were under the age of 18 and 26.1% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 84.1 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 81.9 males age 18 and over.

0.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 100.0% lived in rural areas.

There were 679 households in Darien, of which 22.8% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 33.7% were married-couple households, 17.7% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 40.8% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 33.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 16.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

There were 862 housing units, of which 21.2% were vacant. The homeowner vacancy rate was 3.4% and the rental vacancy rate was 16.8%.

Government

The city has changed its form of government to council/manager and has hired a city manager.

Education

McIntosh County School District

The McIntosh County School District consists of two elementary schools, a middle school, and a high school. The district has 121 full-time teachers and 1,979 students.

Todd Grant Elementary School

McIntosh County Middle School

McIntosh County Academy

Notable people

Charles S. Thomas (1849-1934), Confederate soldier and later United States senator, born in Darien